Cam, I know that folks like Barry, and myself, who feel that the motorization of mountain biking has attenuated the activity are ever increasingly in the minority. Especially with the coming wave of Stealth-E rigs. And I know that the refusal to just cede the conversation is increasingly annoying to folks, like yourself, who are on the winning side of whether a mountain bicycle is by nature and definition human-powered or otherwise.
And, I know, sorry Barry, that his posts on the subject are a bit like listening to Don Quixote on CD, but it keeps skipping so it's just the same passage being read over and over, and over, again. And over again. But it doesn't seem to me that anyone is really interested in having the conversation anymore anyway so there are no points for originality or craft.
Respectfully though, there's a massive difference between a lunatic like MV assaulting innocent strangers with a saw in the forest and someone posting in an online community because they want to be sure their vote is counted on the kind of content they'd like to read and see. It's fair for Barry to point out that it's an insane comparison.
There are still quite a few Barry-types out there, though increasingly feeling unwelcome, and I think that from trail access to content, it behooves folks riding and writing about e-bikes to be good winners and acknowledge that until very recently one of the tenets of this activity was that it was un-motorized.
And yes, folks could simply choose to ignore the E-MTB and Stealth-E content on NSMB but the fact is that none of that content was initially pulled into this sphere. It was pushed, hard, by e-bike manufacturers. "It's you, but faster." And, again respectfully, I think pushback should be expected if not encouraged. Riders should define mountain biking, not manufacturers.
Sept. 12, 2023, 1:30 p.m. - Andrew Major
Cam, I know that folks like Barry, and myself, who feel that the motorization of mountain biking has attenuated the activity are ever increasingly in the minority. Especially with the coming wave of Stealth-E rigs. And I know that the refusal to just cede the conversation is increasingly annoying to folks, like yourself, who are on the winning side of whether a mountain bicycle is by nature and definition human-powered or otherwise. And, I know, sorry Barry, that his posts on the subject are a bit like listening to Don Quixote on CD, but it keeps skipping so it's just the same passage being read over and over, and over, again. And over again. But it doesn't seem to me that anyone is really interested in having the conversation anymore anyway so there are no points for originality or craft. Respectfully though, there's a massive difference between a lunatic like MV assaulting innocent strangers with a saw in the forest and someone posting in an online community because they want to be sure their vote is counted on the kind of content they'd like to read and see. It's fair for Barry to point out that it's an insane comparison. There are still quite a few Barry-types out there, though increasingly feeling unwelcome, and I think that from trail access to content, it behooves folks riding and writing about e-bikes to be good winners and acknowledge that until very recently one of the tenets of this activity was that it was un-motorized. And yes, folks could simply choose to ignore the E-MTB and Stealth-E content on NSMB but the fact is that none of that content was initially pulled into this sphere. It was pushed, hard, by e-bike manufacturers. "It's you, but faster." And, again respectfully, I think pushback should be expected if not encouraged. Riders should define mountain biking, not manufacturers.